(KTLA) — “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is coming to an end next May, according to CBS News and Paramount.
The announcement from Colbert, 61, himself came during Thursday’s taping of the show.
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“I want to let you know something I found out just last night,” Colbert told the live audience while cameras were rolling. The announcement was met with “boos” from the audience.
“Next year will be our last season,” Colbert continued. “It’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS… This is all just going away.”
In a statement to CBS News, Paramount said “The Late Show” franchise will end in May 2026, the end of the broadcast season, and that the decision to pull the plug was for financial reasons only.
Stephen Colbert smiles after winning an Emmy for “Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand Building Back America Great Again Better 2020.” (Chris Pizzello/The Associated Press)
Paramount’s statement reads: “We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire ‘THE LATE SHOW’ franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
The statement added that the decision comes against “a challenging backdrop in late night” and has nothing to do with how the show has been performing.
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The move is the latest in some late night programming pruning at CBS. In 2023, the network brought “The Late Late Show with James Corden” to an end, taking the opportunity to also end the “Late Late Show” franchise altogether. This program had followed “The Late Show” since 1995.
Colbert’s tenure at “The Late Show” began in September 2015, when he took over for original host, late night legend David Letterman. Colbert rose to fame as host of Comedy Central’s popular news satire show “The Colbert Report,” which ran from 2005 to 2014.
During Thursday’s taping, Colbert lamented the end of the late-night staple, saying “I wish somebody else was getting it.” Nevertheless, Colbert said he was looking forward to finishing out his job “with this unusual gang of idiots for the next 10 months.”
